Random Network Reviews: Over The Limit 2012

WWE Over the Limit 2012
May 20th, 2012 | PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina | Attendance: 8.000

For the most part, I enjoyed WWE in 2012. Specifically, I loved CM Punk’s WWE Title reign and the start of the rise of Daniel Bryan. Both are front and center as the two indy favorites meet on this show for the WWE Championship. There were certainly some bad things, like the WWE’s penchant to have John Cena headline most shows despite not being champion. There is no bigger injustice than this show but more on that later. This would be the third and final Over the Limit Pay-Per-View.

People Power Battle Royal
Alex Riley vs. Christian vs. Curt Hawkins vs. Darren Young vs. David Otunga vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson vs. Heath Slater vs. Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso vs. Jinder Mahal vs. JTG vs. Michael McGillicutty vs. The Great Khali vs. The Miz vs. Titus O’Neil vs. Tyler Reks vs. Tyson Kidd vs. William Regal vs. Yoshi Tatsu
Unlike most PPVs, this one starts instantly with a match. The winner of this gets to choose between an Intercontinental and United States Title shot. Christian makes his return here. The expected guys (Slater, JTG, Tatsu, etc.) go out first. Khali took out the Hawkins and Reks tag team by himself before dumping out Mahal. Cody Rhodes and Santino Marella, the reigning IC and US Champions, sit at ringside watching. It follows standard battle royal stuff and comes down to Kidd, Otunga, Miz and Christian. Kidd gets some shine and takes out Otunga and Miz with high flying offense. He nearly skins the cat before Otunga kicks him out. Christian was last seen as a heel but is the favorite since he just returned. Otunga and Miz try to double team him but he fights them off. Christian counters Otunga and sends him over before Miz tries to sneak in and dump him. Christian stops it and almost still gets eliminated several times, but somehow hands on for dear life. He gets Miz on the apron too and uses a shoulder thrust to send him to the floor.

Winner: Christian in 11:58
For the most part, this was your typical battle royal. Lots of standing over and people holding guys “trying to eliminate them”. The final exchange between Miz and Christian was enough to bump it up slightly. **

Now we go to the opening video package, centered around People Power.

WWE Tag Team Championship
Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger w/ Vickie Guerrero
Man, Truth and Kingston sucked as Tag champs. Swagger and Ziggler do a good job of adding little touches to their offense to give themselves more heat. Truth and Kingston hit some double team offense on him before Truth does a split and a ridiculous dancing leg drop. The challenges start the heat segment, isolating Truth. Swagger is good at drawing heat but Dolph is too popular for his taunts and such to really work. He busts out the headstand headlock for a bit. Kofi gets the hot tag and flies around the ring, only for Swagger to break up a pin. He eats a Fameasser for another near fall. Truth dives outside to take out Swagger, leaving Dolph and Kofi alone. Dolph charges in for the corner splash but Kofi answers with a mid-air Trouble in Paradise to retain.

Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth in 12:21
Pretty solid match here. While I didn’t like Truth and Kofi together, it worked here. Truth did a good job in taking the heat and Kofi’s hot tag stuff worked. The finish was pretty cool too. ***

In the back, Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks talk to Eve about confiscating any signs that slander John Laurinaitis. David Otunga tells them that doing so is legal. That’s it. That’s the entire segment.

WWE Divas Championship
Layla (c) vs. Beth Phoenix
A month prior, Beth Phoenix missed her title shot due to an injury. Layla replaced her and took the Divas Title from Nikki Bella. Beth was actually in the midst of a great run as champion between the end of 2011 and early 2012 before the injury. They go through some weak looking offense where Layla tries using her speed to overcome Beth’s clear power advantage. Layla struggles to hit her springboard cross body for two. Wisely Beth attacks the knee that kept Layla out of action for a year. Beth dominates until Layla counters a press slam into a DDT. Layla tries Diamond Dust but gets caught in the Glam Slam, only to counter into a roll up. Beth countered back but only gets two. Layla hits a neckbreaker from out of nowhere for the shocker.

Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Layla in 7:10
They seemed to have a good idea for the match. Dominant Beth against resilient Layla and the leg work was smart. I liked the twist on the tired Beth Glam Slam counter finish. My main issue is that this seemed to drag on longer than it needed to be. **¼

World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton
Though his character was very cheesy, people forget just how good a lot of Sheamus’ World Title reign was. Outside of some of the painfully overdone Del Rio series, it was really strong. Judging by the fans, Orton is the favorite. The faces take out the heels and come face to face. Boy, an Orton/Sheamus confrontation. Those almost never go well. The heels interrupt it and they work together for a good chunk early on. Of course, it’s only temporary as Del Rio and Jericho go at it, punctuated by a sweet Del Rio tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. El Patron was always smooth in the ring. We get a lot of one on one situations as two men are almost always kept separate for breathers outside. Del Rio targets Sheamus’ arm but runs into trouble from Sheamus’ power. They go at it for a while and it was actually still fresh at the time. Orton comes in but gets put in the Cross Armbreaker until Jericho breaks it up. Ricardo Rodriguez tries to get involved but he and Del Rio take the double rope hung DDT. Jericho nails a Codebreaker on Orton but ends up in the Cross Armbreaker, which he reverses into the Walls of Jericho. Sheamus enters but misses the Brogue Kick and eats a Codebreaker too. He slaps the Walls on him but Orton breaks it up with RKOs for almost everyone. Sheamus takes him out with a Brogue Kick before kicking out of a Jericho rollup. He connects on White Noise to defeat Jericho.

Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Sheamus in 15:54
A very enjoyable match that often gets overlooked. One of the most entertaining interactions between Sheamus and Del Rio as well as Sheamus and Orton. It was a little too formulaic with the whole “two guys outside at all times before a furious finish” stuff to be truly great though. Still a lot of fun and everyone worked very hard. ***¾

Backstage, Cody Rhodes talks to Eve about the People Power Battle Royal. He says that Christian can bring prestige back to the US Title now, the same way he did to the Intercontinental Title. Cody also disses Christian saying that coming off of an injury, he’s lucky not to face him. Christian comes up to him and says that he’s decided to face Cody for the IC Title.

Brodus Clay w/ the Funkadactyls vs. The Miz
Oh, so we get the Miz twice. Before the match, Miz wanted to show that he was the best dancer in the company, busting out some really bad Michael Jackson stuff. The Funkadactyls do a lot of ass shaking in front of the commentary table, completely causing Booker T to just stop commentating for a bit. This is your standard Brodus Clay match. Miz tries some cheap stuff, Brodus does some power stuff and the Funkadactyls jiggle for the camera. He finishes Miz off with the splash.

Winner: Brodus Clay in 4:11
This did not belong on a Pay-Per-View. Miz’s pre-match dancing and the Funkadactyls at ringside were the only things even remotely enjoyable. ¾*

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Christian
I loved Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes. They go through a feeling out process, which makes sense since they haven’t exactly had a long series of matches. I actually think this is their first solo meeting. Cody plays the aggressor but the crowd isn’t really feeling it. Even a big superplex spot gets next to no reaction from the fans. Christian starts going into all of his signature offense as part of his rally, which the crowd seems to enjoy a bit more. He gets two on a missile dropkick and calls for the Killswitch. Cody blocks it but still ends up on the receiving end of offense. Christian misses a cross body and kicks out of a roll up. Cody connects on a beautiful moonsault but only gets two. Cody shouts about how good he is and it costs him. Christian sends him into the corner and wins the title with the Killswitch.

Winner and New WWE Intercontinental Champion: Christian in 7:16
Disappointing. Their chemistry seemed way off and the completely dead crowd only made matters worse. Luckily, they’d figure it out and put together a great match at the next PPV. This was decent at best. **¾

WWE Champion CM Punk is interviewed backstage about the upcoming title match with Daniel Bryan. He makes fun of the fact that ten years ago, Vince McMahon would have never believed there would be a WWE Title match between them at one of his PPVs. AJ Lee, former girlfriend of Bryan, shows up and wishes Punk good luck. Punk and AJ would be married about two years later.

WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Considering their backgrounds, a major PPV Title match between these two was pretty much a dream. They begin trying to outwork each other on the mat a bit. Bryan attempts some kicks, so Punk takes that leg and focuses his attack there. Some hard hitting stuff from both men early on, which I didn’t really expect. When Bryan turns things around and gets on offense, his target is the midsection of Punk due to an attack by Kane a few nights earlier. Punk tries a Figure Four but Bryan pulls him into an inside cradle for two. Bryan folds Punk in strange ways with submissions until Punk elbows out. Even as Punk hits a fisherman suplex, he immediately goes back to holding the ribs once Bryan kicks out. They do some back and forth leading to a double cross body spot which obviously took more out of Punk. Bryan comes close on several occasions, including one on a vicious kick but only gets two. They both fall from the top and Bryan gets crotched. Punk springboards in with a clothesline that only gets two. Bryan brought that spot to WWE from his matches with Nigel McGuinness. Bryan counters the GTS into a rollup for two and goes to the Yes Lock. Punk fights it and uses a big kick but Bryan gets his foot on the ropes. Punk hits the elbow, which I believe beat Bryan earlier in the year, but it’s not enough here. Bryan relentlessly drives knees into Punk’s ribs. Punk tries the knee strike/bulldog combo only to get countered into the Yes Lock. Punk rolls over onto Bryan and gets a three count, though he taps out right after the bell rings.

Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk in 23:58
A tremendous match and the pinnacle of CM Punk’s title reign from an in-ring standpoint. Also a top five Bryan WWE match off the top of my head. Great back and forth as they were played to be equals. They kept the crowd invested, sold well for one another and wrestled a very smart match. My second favorite WWE match in 2012. ****½

Camacho w/ Hunico vs. Ryback
Who would have thought that just four years later, Camacho would be one half of the IWGP Tag Team Champions, Hunico would have found a spot as Sin Cara and Ryback would be on the outs with the WWE? This is pretty much a total squash. Despite Camacho being a pretty big guy, Ryback manhandles him and finishes it with the Shell Shock.

Winner: Ryback in 1:50
Nothing to see here. Ryback was still in the early stages of his push. He’s a few months shy of getting thrust into a main event spot he wasn’t ready for. No rating for the squash here, though it did the job.

John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis
Yes, this got to main event over Punk vs. Bryan. I understood Punk/Rock going on last at Mania, but Cena/Laurinaitis, Cena/Kane and Cena/Show all also headlined over Punk and it made no sense. If Laurinaitis loses, he’s fired. He runs at the bell but Cena brings him in and kicks his ass. That’s fine but then it gets bad. Cena could win with the Attitude Adjustment but instead chooses an airplane spin. Cena proceeds to spend the next fifteen or so minutes embarrassing and abusing Laurinaitis. It’s all painfully dull and nowhere near as funny as Vince probably thinks it is. Laurinaitis gets water poured on him and Cena brings a fire extinguisher into play. It’s all so terrible. Finally, after an eternity, the recently fired Big Show shows up to stop Laurinaitis from leaving. If anyone under contract interfered, they’d be fired, so he’s okay. In a swerve that surprised nobody, Big Show knocks out Cena and allows Big Johnny to keep his job.

Winner: John Laurinaitis in 16:57
Holy hell that was one of the worst main events in WWE history. If a face like Steve Austin did this to an authority figure it would have been okay. Cena is a goody two shoes meaning this just came off as bullying and dragged on for WAYYYYY too long. It is one of the biggest piles of shit the WWE ever put together. -*****

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

I really wanted to like this show more. It had a really good World Heavyweight Title match, solid Tag Team Title match and an all-time great WWE Title match. The Ryback squash, battle royal, IC and Divas’ Title matches are all relatively inoffensive or too short to mean anything. However, the Brodus Clay stuff was dull and the main event was pathetically bad. That really leaves a sour taste that makes you forget about a lot of the good on the show.